Spring Break Week 1 - Dublin is Delightful!

Hey again! I spent the second weekend of spring break in Dublin visiting of one my friends from Augsburg (Beth) who is studying at UCD. She was kind enough to pick me up at the airport, let me stay at her apartment, cook me delicious food, and show me around Dublin all weekend. As a result, this trip was much less expensive and stressful than my Paris trip - thanks, Beth!

One of the first things we did was visit the Guinness factory. As long as you get within a several block radius of the factory, you can find it by following your nose. The smell is unmistakable! The exhibits were actually really informative and fun, plus you get a free pint of Guinness with your ticket. Drinking a pint of Guinness is like drinking bread. But anyway, you get your pint and drink it while enjoying it a 360 degree view of Dublin.

Later that day, we wandered around Dublin and saw some cool performers on Grafton Street and then went through St. Stephen's Green on our way home.

On Sunday (Palm Sunday it was), we went to Christ Church. They have an amazing choir, probably the best church choir I have ever heard. After the service, we had tea in the crypt. Best coffee hour venue ever. I think I can die happy now that I've had tea in a crypt. :)

In the afternoon, Beth and I went on a tour of Dublin Castle, which was really informative about Dublin and generally very cool. Also very cheap. I highly recommend this to anyone who visits Dublin. (I haven't included any pictures of this because the ones from outside didn't turn out that well and the inside ones are probably boring if you weren't actually there. Again, some of you will probably be subjected to them at a later date). We also saw the Dublin spire, which if you don't know what you're looking for, you will probably miss. We were almost right up to it before I realized it was there, which is why I don't have a picture of the whole thing. That night, Beth took me to her favorite pub and then it was off to bed so I could catch the 3:30 bus to the airport for my morning flight. A bit brutal, but the trip was more than worth it. Thanks again to Beth for putting me up... In a few posts you will see her, as she visited Scotland this past weekend. Much more to come, but that will be later today or tomorrow, since I need to get ready to go to lecture at the moment. Miss you all!

Spring Break Week 1 - Hanging out in Edinburgh

So, I almost forgot that I promised pictures of Amanda and my wanderings around Edinburgh (pronounced edin-burra) before we flew to Paris. We rode a double-decker bus (yay!) to downtown and then made our way to the castle, where we spent most of the afternoon before having lunch at a fantastic tiny restaurant that was plastered on the inside with old movie posters and celebrity photos. So, here are some pictures of our time at the castle:
Our tickets for entry. We have a similar photo of our tickets for entry to the Musee D'Orsay. I think we were trying to create a motif for our trip.

A view of Edinburgh from the Castle entrance. Amanda poses with a kilted bagpiper guarding the entrance to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Regimental Museum located in the castle.
A fountain in the square at the foot of the giant rock the castle is built on. I got a bit too close and got splashed.

The giant rock and castle. Notice the wire mesh covering the hillside and the tiny orange workman. Our best guess is that they were trying to prevent falling rocks crushing people during tourist season. :) I'm planning on returning to Edinburgh at the end of term for more exploration, so hopefully I will have lots more to report about it then.

Observations and More Paris Photos (a bit late...)

So, here are some of my deep thoughts on Paris, along with more photos (although I have about 300 in total, to the viewing of which some of you no doubt will be subjected). Sorry it's taken me so long, but now that I'm done with my coursework, I'm catching up the blog. :)

Deep thoughts:
I know French people often get a bad reputation for being rude, but this is simply not true. The Parisians I met and talked with were all very polite and helpful. As long as you treat them with respect, they will treat you with respect back. Too bad so few American tourists can manage this simple task. :(

The only thing I noticed that I didn't like too much is that sometimes (although this only happened to me once or twice, it happened to Amanda more) if you start speaking to a French person in French, they will switch the conversation to English. I think this is because they are trying to either be helpful since you quite obviously don't speak French that professionally or because they want to practice their English. Unfortunately, it can come off as quite condescending. Oh well. I still thought the French were really nice.

Actual French crepes are way more amazing a) than pancakes and b) than any attempt to replicate them in the U.S. De-licious!

The metro is really easy and amazing. Again, why can't the U.S. take a leaf out of Europe's book and get working on making public transit widely available? Sigh.

I guess that's all... Except to say: J'adore Paris!

Cathedrale de Sacre-Coeur in Montmartre.

The ACTUAL Moulin Rouge - how cool is that?

The Two Towers: La Tour Eiffel and L'Obelisk de Luxor (Egyptian obelisk "given" to the French in the 1830s)

A side view of one of Notre Dame's towers...

And a view from inside the Musee D'Orsay. It used to be a train station.

Spring Break Week 1 - Perusing Paris

Bonjour mes amis! So, we just finished up week one of our two-week spring break, and what a time! Last Monday through Wednesday I was in Paris with another of the JSAs here at St. Andrews: Amanda. We left early on Monday morning so that we could tour around Edinburgh a bit before our flight left that evening, so we had an excellent time at Edinburgh Castle (pics of that will be in a separate post). We arrived in Paris about 9:30 that evening and had quite an adventure riding the RER train to Gare du Nord and trying to find our hostel (it's the building with blue lights in the photo). Eventually, we ended up calling the reception desk at the hostel and they gave us excellent directions so that we made it safely to our beds that night. Tuesday morning we got up early, had a delicious breakfast of croissants, jam, tea, and cheese, and then commenced our tour of Paris with a wander around Montmartre. Our tour guide later that day said that, "the Axis of Paris is what Paris looks like, but Montmartre is what Paris is like." I think she's right. Montmartre was fantastic! We toured Sacre Coeur, which is set on the highest point of Paris, and we decided it was worth the 5 euro to go up to the tower, so that we would be at the highest point of the highest point. Despite a terrifying encounter with some vicious Parisian pigeons, the view was spectacular and merited climbing the 400-some narrow, winding steps (It's a Where's Waldo-style photo: can you pick out the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe in this photo?). Later we made our way to the Moulin Rouge and the Cafe des 2 Moulins (from the movie Amelie) and ate lunch at a real French creperie (best crepe I have ever eaten in my entire life). After this self-guided tour of Montmartre, it was off to Place St-Michel for our 4-hour guided tour of the Axis of Paris. This took us along the Seine from Notre Dame down to the Louvre, the Jardins des Tuileries, into Place de la Concorde, and finished on the Champs-Elysees. We saw, of course, tons of stuff in between and our tour guide Amelia filled our noggins with many interesting and fun facts about Paris along the way. She also took us to Laduree at the end, the best macaroon shop in Paris (the macaroons were incredibly tasty and I successfully completed my entire order en francais!). Amanda and I finished out the day at Arc de Triomphe, although we came back into central Paris later that night to see the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower lit up. Wednesday was devoted to the inside of Notre Dame, the Louvre, and the Musee D'Orsay. All were amazing and a bit overwhelming, to be honest. By the time we finished all that, it was time for us to part ways as she was off to Barcelona the next day and I had to get back to the airport for my return journey to St. Andrews. All in all, it was a FABULOUS trip! I loved Paris; the weather was so beautiful and sunny that I even got a little bit sunburned from being outside so much! I would definitely go back in a heartbeat! The next post will have more pictures and also some thoughts on Paris...